It's time again for the annual Boybutante Ball, the over-the-top drag fest and outrageous party that has raised tens of thousands of dollars for AIDS service organizations over the twelve years since its inception in 1989. Although an exciting outfit is not necessarily a requirement for entry, the Boyball rivals only Halloween in its costumed craziness.

The weeks before Boyball are often a buildup of excitement and die-hard regulars sometimes spend months planning and putting together their outfits for the evening.

In past years on the big night, Ballgoers have lined up by the dozens to enter themselves in contests over the course of the evening in the hopes of winning titles including ''Cute Boy,'' ''Cute Girl,'' ''Miss Most Heinous,'' and ''Miss Real'' (a title ironically won by a Barbara Bush lookalike last year). This year there will be an overall ''Best Costume'' contest with a $250 grand prize awarded to the overall most fabulous outfit.

It's a night when gender guidelines for appropriate attire are tossed aside like last year's lipstick, and attendees' get-ups run the gamut from flashy to formal to trashy and everything in-between and beyond. This year's theme, ''She Haw'' -- a reference to ''Hee Haw'' the classic campy TV variety show, is likely to bring the cowboys and country girls out in full force.

When asked if she would be embracing the somewhat redneck theme, Sophia LoRent -- Boyball's favorite white trash queen -- replied, ''Honey, I live the theme!'' But after getting her wig back from the hairdresser and witnessing the exceptionally fabulous new 'do, she declared, ''It looks like the rent might be going up this year!''

Mighty Afro-Whitey loves her memories of the ball.Mike Landers/Special

Since 1990, Boybutante Ball has certainly become a highlight of the Athens party calendar. The Boybutante AIDS Foundation, a registered non-profit organization, was incorporated in 1996 to oversee the planning and the distribution of funds raised by the ball and its related events. Sold-out every year since 1992, it has grown from a single evening of outlandishness to a week full of events both campy and somewhat more conservative.

The theme is announced several weeks in advance of the ball when the ''Divas on Wheels,'' a gaggle of roller-skating drag queens, go from bar to bar in a pre-event publicity stunt. This year, Speakeasy restaurant hosted ''Five Star Day Band Night'' Sunday, featuring a lineup of bands, with proceeds going to the Boybutante AIDS Foundation. Boybutante BINGO took place Tuesday night at Tasty World and Wednesday night was Womyn's Night with karaoke at Foxz Tavern.

Thursday night, the two and only Krush Girls host one of their infamous dance parties at the Caledonia Lounge and Saturday, of course, is the ball. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, bedraggled Boybutante Ball survivors can join their favorite queens not-so-fresh from the previous evening's performances for the annual Drag Brunch at East West Bistro to close out the event.

The ball itself is nearly sold out and will likely sell out by Friday. But even if you haven't had the foresight to buy your ticket early, be sure to stop by the 40 Watt and mingle with the crowd outside. You're sure to catch an eyeful of all sorts of outlandish costumes and you may be lucky enough to catch an earful of the happenings inside.

And remember ... there's always next year.

Boybutante Memories

Everyone has their favorite Boyball memory and many regulars have a long list of tales to tell about the insanity that often occurs during these annual evenings.

Personally, I'll never forget the year my friend Priscilla and I, all dolled up like homemade showgirls in feathers, tassels, glitter and not much else, bumped into my co-worker Beverly as we crowded outside the 40 Watt Club awaiting entry to the ball.

She-Haw

12th Annual Boybutante Ball

When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 21

Where: 40 Watt Club

Cost: $15 in advance

Call: (706) 227-3530

Tickets available locally at School Kids Records and Junkman's www.boybutante.org

Beverly, elegant in her long satin gown, was escorted by a very classy middle-aged woman whom she introduced as her mother. The lady wore a sparkling pink mother-of-the-bride type dress topped off by a head of perfectly coiffed silvery hair. Upon introduction, Priscilla immediately groped her bosom and cheerfully applauded the authenticity of her costume. ''You look fabulous, they look so real!'' she chattered. Utterly nonplussed, Beverly's mom simply turned to Priscilla and announced in her aristocratic, Charlestonian drawl, ''Honey, they ARE real.'' ''No Priscilla, this is really my mother!'' Beverly corrected once she got over the shock of witnessing her mother being mistaken for a drag queen.

Other memories include the year Jetta Farvegnugen, hairy-chested, unshaven and hideously made-up, arrived on a motorcycle, engine roaring as she drove directly into the club. Many remember 1998's Boyball when Chi-Chi, the reigning Miss Most Heinous (the audience-approved ugliest drag queen) doused surprise celebrity guest, Kate Pierson of the B-52's with tequila while on stage.

Sophia LoRent remembers 1993 when the performers arrived by limousine. ''We just had the one limo, so the driver kept circling the block and each time a different queen would come popping out,'' she recalls. ''The windows were tinted so the crowd couldn't tell that it was full the first time it arrived.'' LoRent also fondly recalls the year a pair of ''nuns'' ran a spanking booth collecting tips for the cause.

Coretta Scott Queen, 1992's Miss Bogart (an award given annually to the Boybutane Ball board member who has contributed the most time and effort to that year's event), remembers most fondly the very first Boybutante ball that took place in 1990. ''What I remember most is how hot it was in the Rockfish Palace (now Boneshakers, where the first Boyball was held). Makeup was running, eyelashes were falling, and the place was packed! We had no idea that what we had planned would become a part of the culture of Athens and receive national attention!''

The cause behind the Ball

The annual Boybutante Ball is most definitely an event full of laughter and good times, but the very serious cause it benefits creates far too many tears.

Every year, as each Boybutante Ball nears its end, the hosts step up to the mike to request a moment of silence to remember friends and loved ones lost to AIDS and to send out support to those battling with the disease.

The two decades since AIDS first surfaced in America have seen many changes. What originated as a mysterious fatal illness that primarily affected the gay community now affects people in all walks of life. In fact, the fastest-growing group of HIV victims in America is young black women.

According to a United Nations AIDS program report, 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV and an estimated 5,500 die each day. Half of all new infections occur in young people ages 15 to 24 years. Highly-effective advances in treatments for the disease have reduced the death rates of AIDS victims in the United States by 66 percent. But for those with the highest risk of contracting the disease, America's poorer urban populations, access to these expensive and often elaborate drug treatments is frequently limited or impossible.

The AIDS epidemic has skyrocketed out of control in other parts of the world. In sub-Saharan Africa alone 12 million people suffer from the disease, 25 percent of them children. In some African countries, one-fourth of the population is infected. Two million people in Latin America have AIDS as do more than a quarter of a million in Eastern Europe.

According to statistics provided by the AIDS Coalition of Northeast Georgia (ACNG), in Athens-Clarke County nearly 300 people suffer from HIV and the number of people infected with the virus throughout Athens and the surrounding 10-county area has more than doubled in the past five years. Nearly 20 percent of those infected with HIV are teen-agers. Half of those suffering from the disease have no health insurance to help cover the costs of treatment.

The ACNG is a non-profit organization providing education and outreach programs as well as services such as medication and short-term housing to people infected with AIDS throughout the Northeast Georgia area. The ACNG has seen a steady increase in clients over the years, with its client-base growing by 30 percent last year.

As the primary beneficiary of funds raised through the Boybutante Ball, ACNG has received more than $130,000 since the event's inception in 1990. Last year's Boybutante Ball raised more than $25,000 for ACNG. Aside from grant money, the Boybutante AIDS Foundation is the ACNG's largest contributor of funding.

Staff Writer Melissa Link can be reached at mlink@onlineathens.com or (706) 208-2316.

This article published in the Athens Daily News on Thursday, April 19, 2001.